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Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame: Star’s Wheels editor among inductees

By Stephanie WallcraftSpecial to the Star

Fri., Sept. 19, 2014

After paying several visits to Canada over the course of his storied career, Nigel Mansell will be making another next week — this time to accept his induction into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

Mansell is the Hall’s international inductee for 2014 and will be celebrated at next Saturday’s ceremony, presented by Canadian Tire, along with the rest of this year’s class: Paul Tracy, Scott Maxwell, Diana Carter, John Magill, and the editor of the Star’s Wheels section, Norris McDonald.

Nigel Mansellm is seen at the wheel of his famous Williams-Renault "Red 5" during practice for the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal in 1992. (Pascal Rondeau / GETTY IMAGES)

Mansell: “I’m feeling very proud that I’ve raced in Toronto, Montreal and various other places, and obviously had some good success in Canada. It’s a great country." (Christopher Lee / GETTY IMAGES)

“I think it’s a wonderful tribute to be invited to be in anybody’s hall of fame,” says Mansell, who was born in the United Kingdom and currently resides on the island of Jersey.

“I’m feeling very proud that I’ve raced in Toronto, Montreal and various other places, and obviously had some good success in Canada. It’s a great country that I’ve embraced and enjoy going to, and your sporting fans there are second to none.”

Mansell has graced our shores 15 times for major racing events. While he found the top step of the podium only once — at the Canadian Grand Prix in 1986 — he has memories of being taken through the gamut of motorsport’s highs and lows here.

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“Racing at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal is always a great challenge,” Mansell says. “There have been many times where it’s been very difficult, too.

“(1982) when (Riccardo) Paletti was killed on the grid was a very sombre year and a reminder to the sport that it’s very, very dangerous.

“Then you go from that to the exuberance of winning the great race there, truly a testament and a great delight for me.”

Mansell spent 12 full seasons in Formula 1 from 1981 to 1992 racing for such teams as Lotus, Ferrari and Williams, where he was assigned the red number 5 that he’s associated with to this day.

But the era that he’s best known for, particularly to North American followers of the sport, is that which saw him claim the World Drivers’ Championship with Williams in 1992 and then leave immediately afterward to contest CART’s PPG IndyCar World Series with Newman/Haas in 1993 in what became one of the most thrilling seasons in Indy car history.

As the 1993 Formula 1 championship was not settled until after the CART season was complete, Mansell is still the only driver to hold the title in both Formula 1 and Indy car at the same time.

From the day he landed in America, Mansell knew he was in a very different world.

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“It was like night and day,” he says of the differences between Formula 1 and CART. “The first test at Phoenix, Arizona, and to have (team owner) Paul Newman there and the world press, was an astonishing experience.

“To go around a racetrack where you’re always turning left and never turning right was a great, new experience for me. My goodness, you get dizzy rather quickly going around a mile oval at under 20 seconds.”

Mansell’s teammate was Mario Andretti, whose son Michael — Mario’s teammate at Newman/Haas for the four prior seasons — chose 1993 to make an unsuccessful foray into Formula 1 racing.

Though the relationship between Mansell and the elder Andretti was known to be a frosty one, Mansell views it through a different lens these days.

“I think Mario himself will probably admit it if asked,” Mansell says, “that it was very stressful for him, having his son racing in Europe with McLaren at the time in Formula 1 and having a terribly, terribly unsuccessful season and having me come over to the team and be as successful as I was.

“I’m a dad. He’s a dad. It must have been very difficult for him, and I know it was. I make a lot of allowances to how he was at that period of time. Obviously, he was feeling a lot towards his son.”

Through a year that was rife with successes, including a win at the 500-mile race at Michigan and a near-win at Indianapolis on his first attempt, Mansell’s favourite moment came from his very first outing.

“One of the highlights was going to Surfers Paradise in Australia at (my) first-ever (Indy car) race,” he recalls. “Being a rookie when you’re a current world champion I thought was very amusing.

“Putting the car on pole position at my first race and winning that race at the first attempt — no one has ever done that in the history of Indy car. I think to make history like that was something very special because you only get one chance at doing that.”

These days, Mansell is still keeping very busy between being an FIA steward, heading up several charities in the U.K., and establishing a Mitsubishi franchise on Jersey with his son, Leo. “In point of fact, I am looking at ways to try and slow down a little bit,” he says with a laugh.

And when he does, he’ll take fond memories with him of Canada’s recognition of his important role in motorsport.

“I’d like to thank Canada as a country for embracing motorsport, and I’d like to thank the Canadian fans for all the great support that they’ve shown me over the past and recent years,” Mansell says. “Being inducted into their Motorsport Hall of Fame is something that I’ll treasure going forward.”

The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame 20th anniversary induction ceremony will take place next Saturday, Sept. 27, at Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W., Toronto. Tickets are available to the public for $85 each and can be purchased online at http://cmhf.ca/ cmhf.caEND.

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